Worship Creates Culture—For Better or Worse

"Culture" is a bit of a buzzword in many facets of the world we live in:

• "We want to create a culture of [x]."

• "We have to push back against the culture!"

• "Our team culture values [x]."

In the context of church, the way we worship has a unique spot in drawing from the culture around it, while also helping create and change that same culture. 

In other words: Worship creates culture, and culture creates worship. It's like a self-feeding loop.

As church and worship leaders, how do we steer that loop in the right direction?

Defining Culture and Worship

What is "culture," anyway? There are a few definitions:

• A collection of human achievement that is collectively recognized. 

• The customs, arts, achievements, and institutions of a group of people. 

• To maintain an environment in which the conditions allow for growth.

So we see that culture is a "thing" and a "process"—and in the church, how we worship contributes in both contexts. For example:

• "Worship" as a genre: This is where commercial interests drive aesthetics, which results in a unique artistic value. Although there's a wide spectrum of "worship music," we can collectively recognize it when we hear it. As we consume worship music, record labels and artists create more of the same or provide an alternative to feed those consumers. It's another type of self feeding loop, where consumers respond to institutions and vice versa.

• "Worship" as an action: This is how we worship, whether that's in singing, dancing, praying, prophesying, etc. Different churches promote or reject many ways of worshipping. In some cases, churches that are more relaxed about dancing, movement, and spontaneity tend to reflect a culture of bold, "Spirit-led" worshippers. In churches that are more regulative, the passion for worship doesn't change, but it results in something more measured and steady. Either way, the culture of the church reflects the values, resulting in a particular expression. 

• "Worship" as a mindset: Maybe a better word would be "attitude," but this is where we focus on our "why" in worship. In other words, we define our purpose in worship, and whom we direct that worship toward. In a general sense, we are all there to worship God, but how does that manifest in the message? Many church cultures focus on a variety of "whys," whether we are to experience "breakthrough," healing, and deliverance, or if we are to receive ordinary means of grace through the sacraments, illumination of God's truth, and fellowshipping with our family of believers. 

In each of these contexts, we see worship and culture actively being nurtured and affirmed, straddling two identities of being both a "thing" and a "process."

Discerning the Right Way

When we understand how worship incorporates into culture and they mutually form each other, we can then find the right way to point them in practice. 

To make it simple, ask yourself these questions:

• Is our worship biblical? If so, it results in your culture prioritizing being biblical, which then feeds back to even more biblical worship.

• Does our worship focus on God the proper way? Defining this can be polarizing because everyone feels that their focus truly IS proper. But when we focus on God as Creator, King, and Redeemer, glorifying Him and enjoying Him in that, then we're set up a proper posturing in the themes and truths we confess.

• Is our church able to actually participate in worship? Following trends (or rejecting them) results in positive and negative consequences, whether that's in singable vs. unsingable ranges, capturing the expression of human emotion or stifling it, or balancing substance and spectacle (the pendulum swings hard in either way, in most cases). 

Take some time to reflect on how you, as a team, ministry, or overall church leader contribute to the formation of culture in your church through the way you worship. I'll leave you with the words of the apostle Paul to the Philippians:

Be blessed 👊✌️